Global Voices For Workplace Equity

WE | November 8, 2018

As 2018 opened, the Workplace Equity Project released a survey to capture and analyze data on diversity and equity-related issues in the scholarly publishing field worldwide. Now, WE has reported on the survey’s findings.

“We were pleased with the response to this effort. We got a great deal of support from industry organizations. And it was through these industry organizations who disseminated the survey and encouraged their members to participate that we were able to get the results from across the globe,” WE Project co-founder Simone Taylor explains.

Altogether, the industry earned some high grades as well as lower marks.

First, the good news. According to three out of four survey respondents, work/life balance is good in scholarly publishing. 60% said their organizations were supportive of diversity, and over half say people of all religions and all sexual orientations have equal opportunities for promotion.

But the findings and answers from nearly 1,200 individuals on six continents don’t stop there.

“We gave people an opportunity, in addition to being able to tick yes or no or answer questions, just to add anything else they needed to say. And a recurring theme in many of these comments was that irrespective of organizational policies, what people experienced depended on their line manager’s interpretation of that policy,” Taylor says.

“This presents a very interesting challenge to an organization,” she continues. “What is clear is that setting the policy is one thing, and we know that there have been quite a few initiatives in the industry to address work/life balance issues, to address promotion and compensation. But if your own line manager doesn’t understand or doesn’t interpret these things in the way the company intends, then your own experience is very, very different from others around you. And it’s a challenge for the industry, because your managers are the people who you have entrusted with the values of the organization. This presents an opportunity to have a better discourse with managers as well as better training and improved oversight.”